


You'll Heal

by toothIess



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Bromance, Comfort, Drama, Pre-S1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 03:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14463561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toothIess/pseuds/toothIess
Summary: Leo is haunted by his nightmares after their capture by Hobbs. Luckily Max is there to give his brother precisely what he needs.





	You'll Heal

Max can’t shake the feeling that Leo is hurting. He withdraws his gaze every time that someone looks at him and he’s avoiding any form of contact with any of his siblings. Max has struggled in vain to try and track Leo down repeatedly, but he didn’t want to be found. That might Max assume that Leo merely needed some time on his own to process everything that had happened.

The memories of their capture by Professor Hobbs was only a week ago and it was clear to Max that these images plagued him whenever he would close his eyes. Leo had barely slept at all since those events and did his best to not let Max know how broken he truly was. Only Max saw everything.

They had been traveling from location to location to not leave any trace of them for potential followers. Usually that meant spending the nights in abandoned buildings where no person would ever search for them. Only as the day turned into night and it was time for Max to charge, Leo would slip outside the length of the whole night and would only return an hour before dawn before Max supposedly would wake up and was to notice his absence. Max had seen him leaving every night.

The sun was about to set when Leo sneaked inside the abandoned factory where they had spent the night together. As he stepped inside and his gaze crossed with Max’s who was appeared to be wide awake he halted dead in his tracks. Max could see the dark circles under his eyes which indicated that he hadn’t left to get some at all.

"You knew I’ve been leaving," Leo affirmed as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He didn’t seem to be that surprised that his brother had gotten onto him, but it seemed that he had been wanting to avoid this encounter for quite some time.

"I’ve known it the first night that you left," Max admitted as he unplugged his charger and got onto his feet. "Why have you been sneaking out all these nights?"

"You wouldn’t understand."

"Try me, Leo. I might be more considerate than you give me credit for. I know you, but I cannot look inside your head to see what’s troubling you. I can only assume."

There was a certain glint in Leo’s eyes which Max didn’t quite figure out. He took a deep breath and licked his lips as he pondered about how he could possibly put his true fears into words. "I can’t sleep."

Max slightly turned his head. "There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?"

He could hear him swallow. "Ever since we’ve been captured by Hobbs I’ve been plagued by nightmares from what happened. I can still see every detail so clear inside my mind. Whenever I close my eyes it feels as if I’m there again in that lab-room and he’s performing more tests on all of us."

"Leo, you must know that there was nothing that you could’ve done to prevented that was going to happen."

The brunette was silent for a short moment as he finally dared to meet Max’s gaze. There were tears threatening to spill from the brim. "I cannot experience that all over again, Max. As soon as I close my eyes it’s like we’ve never left that lab at all. How can I watch him performing test on my brothers and sisters while my hands own hands are tied? I’m useless."

Max took a few steps closer until he was within his reach and he could place his hands on Leo’s shoulders, which caused him to slightly shake. The synth wasn’t sure how he was to react to this, but the mere sight of seeing his brother this damaged was enough to break his heart.

"That’s why I’ve been sneaking out every evening when I thought that you were charging," Leo went on with a quiet voice. "I feared that you would tell me to man up if you were to know the truth. I usually ended up at different location's during the nights. I’ve spent the entire night near the riverbank not too far from here where we currently are and I’ve been staring at the river in vain while I did my absolute best not too fall asleep. I just couldn’t."

Letting his emotions take over Max did the only thing that he could do during this situation which was to wrap his arms around his brother. He was uncertain on whether or not Leo would appreciate his comforting gesture, but it was only seconds later that he heard the sound of sobbing into his shoulder and he let him. This was the only form of solace that he could provide Leo now and he would do whatever it took to help Leo fight his inner demons. It was something that he had done ever since his creation.

Time seemed of no use anymore as they stood there in each others embrace. Max couldn’t exactly the last time that had endured such a mental breakdown which had resulted into him crying in Max’s arms. Leo must’ve been fifteen years old back then when he was still cooping with loss of his mother. This time Leo was much older and had struggled even more after all the people that he had tragically lost in his life. He had known his fair share of grief.

Max was programmed to be there as a brother to Leo and it was something that he excelled at. He always seemed to know what Leo needed whenever he felt out of it and was masking his true emotions deep within himself. Max could always see what was really going on. What Leo needed now was time to process everything in his mind.

"Leo, it’s all in the past now," Max said soothingly. "You won’t have to deal with Hobbs and his men again. We will be able to move on from this and we will only grow stronger from all this agonizing pain that we’ve endured so far with time all of these wounds of yours will heal."

Leo slowly pulled back so that he could meet his brother’s gaze. His cheeks were stained with dried up tears, but there was still a sly smile present on Leo’s lips. "I wouldn’t know what I would’ve done without you, Max," he said. Only not too long ago he had been terrified that he lost Max after he had fallen into the river with an empty battery, but his brother was old self again, the one that Leo trusted and relied on the most.  
"That’s something you shouldn’t worry about. I’ll stay with you for as long as you need me," Max assured him. "I am well aware that you haven’t slept at all in over a week which is why I suggest that you try and get some now. I’ll stay with you should your nightmares hunt you again. You won’t have to face your fears alone this time, Leo."

Leo’s smile slightly widened as a most familiar warmth spread through his chest. "I’ll try, Max. And thank you for everything that you’ve just done for me. I wouldn’t -"

"Leo, it’s alright -" Max gently cut him of as he guided his brother to the nearby sofa that stood in the center of the room. He watched how Leo made himself comfortable underneath a blanket which Max had provided him. "Are you sure that you’re ready?"

"Yes, it’s time that I give this another shot." Leo Elster was ready to face his demons a final time, but he was more than ready to do it this time because he wasn’t alone and that was the most powerful feeling in the world.

 


End file.
